Craig Stewart Russell (born 4 February 1974) is an English former footballer. He played 305 league games in a 13-year career in English and Scottish football. He began his career at Sunderland, firing the "Black Cats" into the Premier League in 1995–96 as champions of the First Division. He was sold to Manchester City in November 1997. Rarely featuring at Maine Road, he was loaned out to Tranmere Rovers, Port Vale, Oxford United, and St Johnstone, before signing with St. Johnstone permanently in July 2000. He spent two full seasons in the Scottish Premier League, before signing with Carlisle United in January 2003. An unused substitute in the 2003 Football League Trophy Final, he moved on to Darlington in January 2004, before leaving the Football League in May 2005. Career Russell signed schoolboy forms at Sunderland in May 1988 ahead of interest from other clubs, including Manchester United, as his parents were Sunderland fans. He made his first-team debut at home to Watford on 2 November 1991, and turned professional in July 1992. He quickly broke into the first-team for a club that avoided relegation out of the First Division by one place and one point in 1992–93 under Malcolm Crosby and then Terry Butcher. They rose to 12th in 1993–94 under the stewardship of Mick Buxton, before new boss Peter Reid steered the Roker Park club out of the relegation zone by the end of the 1994–95 campaign. Russell finished as the club's top scorer in 1995–96 with 13 goals, helping the "Black Cats" to the First Division title. Despite scoring just four goals in 1996–97 he still managed to finish as the club's joint-top scorer, along with Paul Stewart, as Sunderland were relegated out of the Premier League, finishing one place and one point behind 17th place Coventry City despite scoring a total of just 35 goals. Sunderland changed their attack force, signing Kevin Phillips and Niall Quinn, whilst Russell was sold to Manchester City in exchange for Nicky Summerbee (valued as a £1 million player) in November 1997. In total he scored 34 goals in 175 appearances for Sunderland. He scored one goal for City in 1997–98 and one league goal (as well as two FA Cup goals) in 1998–99. He was signed by Frank Clark, but found himself increasingly sidelined after Joe Royle took charge in February 1998. He was loaned out to Tranmere Rovers in